Against Gravity [Paperback]

Edward McCabe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1991

For all armchair adventurers, Against Gravity is the compelling story of a highly successful advertising executive who left Madison Avenue to race his car in the deadly 8,000-mile Paris-Dakar rally.

Product Details

• Paperback: 308 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (April 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446392391
• ISBN-13: 978-0446392396
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,165,108 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Resoundingly bad book, December 29, 1999

By 

Douglas McGhee (Minneapolis, Minnesota) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Against Gravity (Paperback)

It would be impossible to list everything that is bad about this book in 1,000 words, so I will stick to a few main points. First, 220 out of 280 pages in this book are not about the Paris/Dakar Rally, they are about getting ready for the race. Why? Because the author only gets a third of the way through the race before running out of gas, a point which is not mentioned anywhere until the book is almost over. I can only assume that this act of non-disclosure bordering on fraud was made in an effort to sell more books, thereby permitting the author to recoup some of the heavy investment he made to enter the race, which the reader learns about ad nauseum. Far worse than bad content, however, is the profoundly arrogant tone in which the author writes. e.g., I'm worth millions of dollars, I was in the advertising hall of fame at age 35, I only date beautiful women, and lots of them. With few exceptions, every decision the author makes is a good one, including dropping out of high school, while everyone around him is a bumbling lot of fools. Among the fools is his navigator and fiancee, who gets criticized for everything beyond breathing, and brought me my only happiness in the book when I learned in the epilogue that she broke up with him after the race. Not being an auto-racing expert, if you ask me, I would say that the biggest idiot would have to be the one who RAN OUT OF GAS. If that isn't enough reasons to hate the book, add in a complete lack of knowledge of the cultures and villages through which the author drives. e.g., the author writes that all the men in Mauritania hold hands, causing him to wonder what the AIDS rate is there. Does it ever occur to the guy that maybe Mauritanian culture permits men to hold hands without necessarily meaning that they are a couple? Obviously not, even though that is the case. I finished this book four days ago and am still mad that I wasted my time with it.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The good, bad and ugly, December 8, 2000

By 

Jeff Lawton (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Against Gravity (Paperback)

The good part is Ed McCabe gives a fascinating view into what has to be the most masochistic race on earth. While the author spends too much time describing his preparation, he also does a masterful job of detailing the amount of work required to even attempt this endeavor. The bad part is McCabe's personality - angry, arrogant, obsessive, perfectionistic. The ugly is the writing - there are some glaring errors and it looks like McCabe decided he could be his own editor. Wrong! A good editor could have made this a much better read - nonetheless it's still a fascinating first-hand description of a race only a maniac would enter. Most pathetic -- after a nearly a year of preparation and a penchant for obsession over details, McCabe blew it by running out of gas. Since his car eventually made it to Dakar it seems he could actually have run the course if only he'd topped off that morning.

4.0 out of 5 stars interesting insights, January 12, 2011

By 

teddyjackeddy - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Against Gravity (Hardcover)

Other reviewers have panned this book because they don't like the author's personality ; they note [correctly] that he appears to be self centered and arrogant. Well, this is probably true. BUT, have they not noticed that most "successful" people are the same? It takes an inordinate self confidence [ofttimes perceived as arrogance] and tremendous drive / "goal orientation" [selfishness] TO become as successful as the author was/is. It also takes a tremendous focus to compete in the Dakar, especially for an American. Numerous roadblocks are thrown up specifically to keep us out of the contest.
Be that as it may, I would recommend the book to anyone interested in distance rallying, as a real, not sponsor driven diatribe, look at what it takes to compete, even at the low level of McCabe. C'est formidable... Against Gravity chronicles the preparation and training necessary to just survive the event. I found it very interesting. As well as depressing - if it takes that kind of money just to mount a shoestring lower car-class effort, I'll never get to go!
Of course, the costs have gone up 10 fold now, and the adventure is down by the same amount. They don't even run the race in Africa anymore. But, this is still an interesting look into a privateers effort to compete.
I wish more, lots more, photos had been included, I mean the co-driver was a photographer for goodness sakes. And I would have liked to see a little more detail as well as more "colour coverage" of the race itself, but still an enjoyable read for the Dakar enthusiast.